The soulful and emotionally stirring talents of Austin, Texas-based R&B artist Jay Wile are more than impressive. Powerful songwriting that is felt as well as heard is only one part of Wile’s playful sonic construction. Regularly texturized by a mixture of live and synthetic instrumentation that can be brandished through bright and dim palettes, each record produced by this burgeoning artist stands on the strength of its merit. His continuously growing discography, currently comprised of two albums, an EP and a handful of singles, paints a vivid picture of an artist that has yet to tell his entire story. As time continues to pass, Jay Wile will undoubtedly continue to grow and evolve placing transparency and heart at the forefront of his musical pursuits. An artist with such a noble intent not only gives a glimpse into his bright artistic future but practically ensures it through a dedication to quality.

I’m sure she’s not aware, but Margaret Glaspy and I lived in Boston at the same time. That’s probably why I relate to her vibe. Her music is like the universe. It seems to keep moving and evolving in an ever-expanding wave. After an exquisite, self-produced LP released in 2016, where she showed off her amazing unique timbre mostly over a groovy bed of stripped down folk rock arrangements contrasted by some complexity in form and harmony, Margaret now seems more confident to explore with synth textures and voice effects. This is evident on ‘Killing What Keeps Us Alive’, the first track off of what I’m guessing will be her next album under ATO Records, which I think we all should be really excited about. Hats off to taking risks without compromising artistic integrity. She’s just too good. Go listen now!

With her striking baritone moan and penchant for melding psychedelic folk, drone, and even avant-garde jazz, Chicago-based composer, arranger and vocalist Haley Fohr makes music that feels at once improvisational and ritualistic. Her arresting discography under the moniker Circuit des Yeux contains six LPs, including 2015 breakthrough In Plain Speech and 2017’s critically lauded Reaching for Indigo, but Fohr’s restless creativity can hardly be contained; she recently collaborated with New Zealand guitarist Roy Montgomery, composed an original soundtrack for 1923 silent film Salomé, and completed two LPs with country-synth project Jackie Lynn (a self-titled debut in 2016, and the forthcoming Jacqueline). Fohr is at her most enigmatic as Circuit des Yeux, her work suspended somewhere between the primal and the ethereal. Draping herself over her 12-string guitar, sometimes writhing on the floor, a Circuit des Yeux performance often transcends faithful renditions of Fohr’s recorded material as she plunges herself into something more akin to performance art.

Abstract beats, aggressive and punkish rap, and an overwhelming energy are the hallmarks of Tokyo-based hip-hop trio Dos Monos. As artists Zo Zhit, TAITANMAN, and Botsu demonstrate on their debut album, Dos City on Deathbomb Arc, their prog rock and free jazz influences combine with fascinating literary and philosophical lyrics to create a unique and formidable odyssey into jazz-rap.

The Orielles are expertly tuned musicians and poets playing undercover in a shimmering indie rock band. The U.K.-based trio’s guitar solos melt down your soul while the lyrics hit you so personally in the heart that you don’t know what to do. Their most recent album Disco Volador, released Feb. 28th on Heavenly Recordings, still has a veil of their usual intensely passionate and emotional melodies, but with a funky/danceable twist. It takes you to space in a rocket full of tears, love, and curiosities. Catch them live and you’ll do more than just sway side to side.

Reality Club shows what Asian indie music fans get into. In the beginning, the songs were danceable, dreamy, catchy, a bit rocky and easy to listen to for any young people who like musicians such as Last Dinosaurs — and then, there was Instagram. The band’s front-woman, Fathia Izzati, who now has more than 400k followers on social media, knew how to communicate with her fans and make them love their music. It was the story in 2017 when they released their first album Never Get Better which included their most beloved dream-pop song “Is It The Answer”. Two years later, the band came back with the second album What Do You Know? They show layered and uneasy emotion through well-produced garage rock songs, and they know how to throw themselves at their live performances.

Feminist powerhouse YAYOI DAIMON began her career as a hip-hop dancer, broke through with girl group rhythmic and collaborations with artists like SHINGO★Nishinari and AKKOGORILLA, and evolved into a completely self-produced act. Her music embodies a broad set of influences: reggae, old-school hip-hop, dancehall, and her own unstoppable message of self-expression and freedom. Feel her energy in singles like “NO BRA” and unapologetic twerk banger “KETSUFURE”.

Caroline Rose is gearing up to have one of her biggest years yet. Her new album Superstar comes out right before Music Week begins, ensuring new waves of energy and excitement at her live shows. If you couldn’t tell by the title, the album is drenched in Los Angeles sunshine, complete with the excitement and earnestness of someone packing up their life and moving out to the City of Angels to make their dreams come true. If you love insanely well written pop songs with a tinge of psychedelic rock and r&b, make her a priority on your list this year. If you’re not familiar with Caroline’s live set, get ready for a mixture of impeccable musicianship and a hilarious and biting sense of humor, which makes for an unforgettable live experience. Get ready to dance, laugh, and maybe cry with your friends while you discover your favorite new artist.

There’s nothing quite like seeing Nina Ljeti swing like a chaotic pendulum, between frenzied and a controlled ferocity as she leads Kills Birds, wide-eyed and screaming. Just like her performance, the Los Angeles-based rock outfit’s music seems to teeter at the brink of destruction — poised to unravel at any second. It’s that uncontrolled energy, driving melodies, and almost hypnotic quality that pulls you into Kills Birds and makes you never want to leave.

Zeroing in on concepts of renewal, often through meditative repetition, the Copenhagen-based composer and musician Astrid Sonne combines the computer-generated with the organic, an approach that allows her to maintain emotional resonances within an experimental mix. She makes complicated, computer-based music with a beating heart, which is not an easy task. She sews together viola, voice, digital washes, and 1s and 0s in ways that are engaging (and, with your headphones on, all-enveloping). Sonne’s debut album, 2018’s Human Lines, blended frenetic coded soundscapes with minimalist cloud formations and tumbling glitch cathedrals. Last year’s Cliodynamics EP put her viola at the forefront amid denser soundscapes (think buzzing digital orchestras), but it ended with a peaceful (and jazzy) acapella choir, “Strong, Calm, Slow,” a song you could imagine surfacing on a bookstore café’s soundtrack. One of that EP’s song titles is “To Change is to Continue,” an apt slogan for Sonne’s continuously morphing compositional approach.

Fool’s Gold signee HERO is an R&B star for the DIY era. The Canadian-born singer’s recent EP Cry Baby showcases his unique brand of music — a blend of synths, pop, electronic music and R&B to create something he prefers to dub as “VHS pop.” Despite this nostalgic nod, it’s definitely got a futuristic feel. It’s hazy, dark, static and autotune-riddled. His music becomes all the more impressive when coupled with the fact that HERO not only wrote each lyric, but produces his captivating records himself — experimenting on both sides of the spectrum. Sometimes the singer manipulates his voice to feel as though it’s just another facet of the drum-heavy production, while at other times his vocals are clearly the focal point. His mastery of both aspects means he need not look to outside inspiration, and thus results in a rather incubated and distinct sound — one that is truly his own.

“It’s my time, and nobody can tell me nothing.” When Odunsi (The Engine) utters those words in a shimmering falsetto on “rare,” he demands your pure and undivided attention. The song is a compelling introduction to his debut album, a gem of a project that features subdued rhythms and dreamy, glorious chords. The album’s best moment arrives on “star signs,” with stirring melodies and distinctive percussion that give it endless replay value. Both a vocalist and a producer, there are plenty of reasons to be excited about the man from Lagos, Nigeria, as he continues to be a torch bearer of the growing Afrofusion sound.

HTRK strike a balance of sounding both quite contemporary and just slightly out of step that makes them all the more distinctive. Their beat-driven ambient is something you might have to yell over to get an overpriced, underpowered cocktail — but at the same time, there’s more depth than hedonism-as-ennui you find in a lot of modern R&B. As lush as HTRK’s music is, there’s always a slight unease running throughout. They don’t lend themselves to overt queasiness, instead letting ripples disturb ever so gently. They put out two records last year, both of which amplify different parts of their sound: Venus in Leo has the simmering beats and lovely sense of dread, while Over the Rainbow veers more towards their ambient side, beautiful if not still.

If anyone out there fondly remembers Grimes’ early appearances at SXSW, around the time she released Visions, they might want to check out Norway’s Otha. Led by front person Othalie Husoy, the duo’s three singles so far have all been absolutely top quality – an alluring mix of melancholy and ice-cold defiance that successfully merge classic pop and dance in a way that few others have in recent years (I’d put Peggy Gou, Kedr Livanskiy and Yaeji in a similar, supremely talented ballpark). Playing in London last year, Otha showcased a bunch of as-yet-unreleased material that really piqued my interest, all of it immediately hummable, all of it inspired.

London-based Los Bitchos are playing music unlike anyone else. This five-piece describes themselves as “instrumental psychedelic sunshine cumbia” which, if you hear that mixture in your head, is incredibly spot on. Bridging the gap between rock and the pulsing beat of Cumbia — their music injects the listener with a groovy boost of energy. All of their tracks are completely instrumental — some of which are reminiscent of early Rodrigo y Gabriela, with a garage rock edge. For fans of Khruangbin and Kikagaku Moyo: SXSW will be their first time performing in the United States, so make sure you take the time to seek them out!

London-based Arlo Parks first caught our attention with her debut single “Cola,” released in November 2018, which stopped us in our tracks. Parks’ voice is wistful and melancholy with a jazz-influenced smoothness and a Billie Eilish-esque ephemerality. Singer, songwriter, poet and rapper, Parks makes pop music with soothing harmonies and crooner vocals that belie morbid lyrical imagery. The literary quality to Parks’ writing elevates her music into left-of-center pop for intellectuals. 2019 was a massive year for Parks, seeing the release of debut EP Super Sad Generation in April and her follow-up EP Sophie in December and making the NME 100 and the BBC’s Sound of 2020 lists.

Michigan grindcore trio Cloud Rat are, in some ways, typical of the genre’s Hobbesian nightmare: very fast, very loud, very rough. Even in a genre all about speed, rage, and both in excess, there’s an extra urgency that their peers and even some of their forebears lack, and that’s why they’ve garnered fans who aren’t exactly grind freaks. They draw on the melodic crust punk of His Hero Is Gone and Tragedy as much as classic Earache Records grind of yore, which not only gives their attack a hopeless longing (Madison Marshall’s vocals are especially crucial), but also adds a beautiful dimension. And they’re more willing to go aggressive with such beauty. Last year, they released two records: Pollinator, which is the grind one expects of them, and Do Not Let Me Off the Cliff, a companion EP that’s darkwave with touches of dark folk and noise.

The Blind Suns make me think of the sun, ocean breeze, surfing, and psychedelia, but never California. It’s more like Baltic and Atlantic. Maybe that’s why Charles Rowell from Crocodiles decided to produce their second album Offshore. However, the real attraction of The Blind Suns comes out when you watch their live performance. Under the influence of 60’s psych-surf and the 80’s-90’s shoegaze/dream pop era, the French-Polish duo makes a perfect chemical synergy on the stage — Dorota’s performance and attitude could be compared with Poison Ivy from The Cramps. The last time they performed at Hotel Vegas, they were discovered as one of the sexiest bands of SXSW 2018 by Irish magazine Hot Press, but that’s just a part of their show. It’s beyond sexiness.

Two friends from a small town west of Dublin, Tebi Rex are among the rising hopefuls eager to prove Ireland’s worth as major players in hip-hop and urban music following the success of Hare Squead, Rejjie Snow and Kojaque. Under the eaves of the Word Up collective, Matt O’Baoill and Max Zanga have created a sound that sits perfectly at the intersection between dubby, club beats, melodic pop choruses, and a hard-worn trappy flow. Blurring the genres, they’re picking up cues from the likes of Odd Future, Kanye, and Childish Gambino alongside early Chance mixtapes. The result is something with real potential to break through commercially and their debut album, The Young Will Eat The Old was one of last year’s best under-the-radar releases.

Glaswegian producer, singer, songwriter and label head Sega Bodega completed a two year arc of self-discovery and transformation by announcing his debut album Salvador for release in February 2020. He heads up the acclaimed NUXXE label with the equally-impressive Shygirl, both of who had a huge 2019. Bodega has had a creative hand in countless projects, working with artists like Oklou and Cosima. His most famed, however, would be his production work on Shygirl’s track ‘BB’ which topped many end-of-year, best-of lists including Dazed, Fader, FACT and The Guardian. But it’s on his 2018 solo EP self*care where he really shines. It’s a highly accomplished body of work that recalls the early works of SOPHIE and Amnesia Scanner, while adding the uniquely Sega Bodega touch. R&B morphed with kinetic club music and a lace of gremlin-like vocals makes self*care one of the more interesting experimental releases of recent times, and a sign of very exciting things to come.

Pearla, aka 23-year-old Nicole Rodriguez, delves delicately into the past throughout her delightful, pensive debut EP from last year: Quilting & Other Activities. She asks herself on one song, “Can you forgive yourself for missing the last get-together? / It’s alright to stay inside if you think that will make you feel better.” It’s like she’s questioning her own decisions while simultaneously defending them. This dichotomy appears again and again as she expertly weaves folk and singer/songwriter fare into a twinkling mix of acoustic treasures. Equal parts Norah Jones, Waxahatchee and My Morning Jacket, she plays with psychedelia and Americana while leaving her own personalized stamp on traditional folk. Any room the Brooklyn singer plays feels as much like a poetry reading as it does a hymn sampler.

Since their EP Down In The Basement, the Mauskovic Dance Band has brought their enticing cross-over of Afro-Caribbean rhythms, cumbia and space disco across world stages, selling out venues and providing a full dancing experience with a very hypnotic twist. The five members of this Amsterdam-based band are no strangers to experimentation, relying on their knowledge while reinterpreting elements of 60s and 70s Afro-Latin psychedelia through a modern, European approach. The result is in a bombastic mixture of effusive sounds. Released under London-based label Soundway Records, their self-produced debut album The Mauskovic Dance Band keeps inherent their curiosity to explore new sounds and rhythms. As they further navigate through cosmic soundscapes in a unique blend of psychedelic cumbia, chichi, classic afrobeat and picó, and so much more, the inevitable willingness to keep dancing is a constant in their performances and vision.

Dissonance and melody are the foundation of Russian Baths. The NYC duo of Jess Rees and Luke Koz fuse the textural beauty of shoegaze and noise rock with the harshness of punk and hardcore. Their 2019 debut album Deepfake is a masterclass in tuneful foreground minimalism and ferocious background clamor. While the organized chaos of their guitars is the main event, their songs are aided by warm synths and caressing vocal harmonies — the perfect foil for their often doomy soundscapes. Aesthetically, they pull from dark clouds, sharp geometrics and rough minerals. But as moody and atmospheric as their music appears, it’s always grounded in tangible emotion.

Overtly sexual and decked out in avant-garde experimental noise band, Model/Actriz packs an absolute verbal sucker-punch. Formed in Boston, the band is far apart from the New England city’s Puritan roots. Throughout their discography, they effortlessly blend together bits and pieces of post-punk, noise, and even dance, creating a genre frenzy that’s anything but tame. “I wanna f*ck you forever,” lead-singer Cole Haden bites on one of their more well-known tracks, “Matador,” and you can’t help but want to return the sentiment — you’ve become utterly entranced. In a live setting, the band writhes around on stage, flinging themselves from corner to corner and creating an absolute riot in their wake. Their music, their presence, their aura has an attractive quality unlike any other; it’s as if they’re living, breathing art. Model/Actriz’s latest EP No was released in 2017 and considering the time that’s since elapsed, there’s no question that we’re collectively itching for more — keep an ear open for their next sonic revelation.

Proud Wergaia / Wemba Wemba woman Alice Skye has been steadily gaining a reputation as one of Australia’s brightest new faces since releasing debut single “You Are The Mountains” in 2015. Her latest single “I Feel Better But I Don’t Feel Good” is her first on Bad Apples Music, the prolific Indigenous record label founded by Yorta Yorta rapper Briggs. The label aims to use music as a platform for social change and fostering the talent of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists. Steeped in success from the outset, Alice Skye’s raw musicality , sensitivity and maturity well beyond her years continues to turn heads across the country and now the world. It’s just Alice and her piano. Nothing more needed.

London singer/songwriter Beabadoobee went viral with the first song she ever wrote on a guitar. That’s a cool story, but it’s not always the best way to launch a career. Overnight success can lead to a quick burnout, but Beabadoobee is one of the fastest-evolving new artists out, and she’s still only 19 years old. Now she’s signed to independent record label Dirty Hit (The 1975, No Rome, The Japanese House) and she’s built her acoustic bedroom tunes into grunge-y, ‘90s-inspired jams with rich production and sophisticated songwriting. Bea’s 2019 EP Loveworm showcased her potential as a true rockstar in the making, and she’s been putting in time on the road delivering shows good enough to convert casual listeners into fans. “I went into this thinking this was going to go nowhere,” Bea says. “I was just doing it for fun. So every time you make art, do it for fun. With no expectations.” Fun isn’t always a word you associate with the slacker rock space Beabadoobee thrives in, but her energy is contagious.

Lula Wiles consists of three extraordinary players and singers — and none of them are named Lula. Isa Burke, Ellie Buckland and Mali Obomsawin are three friends who began collaborating in college and released their Smithsonian Folkways debut, What Will We Do in 2019. Like I’m With Her, they’re a folk group with three distinct voices and plenty to say. Their golden harmonies and game arrangements keep the music light and airy, but thematically they’re not afraid to tackle weighty topics like the exploitation of Native American stereotypes (“Good Old American Values”) and the ways the opioid crisis affects small towns (“Hometown”). They can rock out, but they can also sing sweet, soaring country love songs (and plenty of heartbreak songs, too). Their live show is energetic and engaging, and their storytelling is immediate. Their 2019 album includes a cover of Trio’s “The Pain of Loving You” — Dolly, Linda and Emmylou vibes, anyone? They’re one of a crop of emerging acoustic groups who are taking old-time traditions and sounds and refreshing them for a modern audience.

In 2017, when Lido Pimienta won the prestigious Polaris Prize (and the $50,000 that came with it) her album La Papessa became the first Spanish-language LP to take Canada’s top musical honor. Its title translates to “The High Priestess” and she’s embodied that persona at every turn, leading a movement towards inclusion and diversity in Toronto’s music scene while also branching out into visual arts as curator and creator. Having spent her teens in punk and metal bands protesting the Colombian government, Pimienta has retained that same sense of urgency while exploiting the malleability of electronic production in service of her politically charged messages, which drive both her lyrics and her dialogue with live audiences. Now, Pimienta returns with Miss Colombia, a collection of songs (out in April) that reckon with her status as a Colombian immigrant, her Afro-Colombian and Indigenous Wayuu roots, and queer desire. Her rousing electro-Cumbia pulses as a three-piece with Pimienta’s ardent soprano backed by traditional percussion and modern synth — be prepared to dance.

A turn of phrase no doubt overused in the music world, but in this instance, it couldn’t be more accurate — Jadu Heart is a duo simply unlike any other. Sonically, they sit in a mystifying, self-serving atmosphere that allows them to weave their elements — melancholic indie, neon-tinged club music, traditional folk and contemporary R&B, to name but a few — with effortless finesse. The musical tapestry they’ve created is a cohesive, narrative-led journey into a universe that spans such conceptual elements as alter egos, numerous characters, a comic book, multiple musical projects and chapters yet untold that far extend all of that. The first thing you may notice are their masks, but beneath them is a wildly inspired story ready to be enjoyed from the first metaphorical page.

Having only been kicking around London’s live circuit for 18 months, PVA’s buzz is one that’s risen fast — in tandem with the trio’s own rapidly-increasing confidence. Amping up the club-ready aspects, they might look like an indie band but they’ve more in common with a bunch of rave-heads — with relentless, spiralling beats and propulsive mantras, their finest wares veer almost into techno territory. Singer Ella Harris’ speak-sing vocals emphasizes the post-punk influences, but while PVA can happily sit on a bill alongside more traditional band set-ups, they’d fit just as well at the drug-addled 3am apex of a warehouse party. It’s sometimes punishing, but in the best way — when James Murphy instructed us all to dance ourselves clean, he probably had a cathartic bop to something like theirs in mind.

Brooklyn-based psych-rock group The Muckers has been defying sounds and barriers since their early formation in Tehran, Iran. Formed by Emir Mohsseni, the band nods to funk, 70’s glam and rock and roll with an effortless charisma heard in their 2018 debut EP It’s Better Without You, which Rolling Stone called a “record that shimmers with fire and possibility.” The EP boasts grooves and vibrant tones taken straight from a Studio-54 spoof film — in a good, retro-made-modern way. In a recent NME article the band was dubbed as “one of New York’s most exciting new bands”, including them too in their 100 Essential New Artists For 2020. The Muckers’ effervescent sound and presence is timeless, and as NME confirms, saying, “The Muckers are also a gang who don’t take themselves too seriously,” it’s all good times laced with glitter.

Nestled down in the capitol of Texas is an artist with an inherent star quality that has separated them from the rest of the pack — the Midwest-born, Austin, TX native soul singer, Alesia Lani. With a distinctive soulful voice combined with electrifying performances Alesia Lani has built up a lore all her own that keeps her in high demand. With her undeniable star quality, the southern songstress has officially put everyone on high alert that she is here to stay.

The Paranoyds are like my dream band, really. Firstly, they write tunes most other garage newcomers would kill for (Carnage Bargain, Courtney). Secondly, they’re tight as fuck live. Thirdly, they genuinely seem like they’re a gang — lifers, if you will — and fourth, their merch is 10/10. I first saw them playing to precisely nobody at SXSW a few years ago: I’d seen other like-minded acts like Sunflower Bean and Starcrawler bigging them up on social media, so wanted to check them out for myself. What I didn’t expect was how blown away I’d be by their nascent and primeval power. With a thrilling three-person front line, they butt heads and down tune in a straight-out-the-garage kind of way. They’re skewiff, but they’re really confident and clever too. Variously, they make me think of Sabbath, Ramones, Mac DeMarco and Hole. Do not miss them.

Singer and producer Vivian Moon crafts genre-bending techno hits that satisfy demand for energy and serenity under the moniker Pastel Ghost. Originally based in the Bay Area, Moon now lives in Brooklyn, where she quickly gained recognition for her unique take on dance music. Tracks like “Abyss” sound like an electronica remix of the dream-pop classic you can’t quite place. Pastel Ghost’s shoegaze influence combines with a more classic techno sound to produce a distinctive style she describes as “dreamrave.” Moon constructs plush, hazy melodies keenly punctuated by bright glimmers of synth. Her seductive, airy voice, which sinks deep into the core of her tracks, is both elusive and captivating. She commands attention with a diffused power as she weaves through the instrumentals, even as her danceable beats offer ample distraction. Pastel Ghost is a versatile listening experience to be enjoyed at the club or during a night in.

Formed in Guadalajara, Jalisco, by Lorena Quintanilla and Alberto González, this duo brings a cathartic and hypnotic experience, melding dreamy vocals with instrumental aspects between psychedelia, garage rock, krautrock and shoegaze with great artistry. Challenging at times, with moments that could be described as chaotic, their show is defined by a complex, layered collection of songs that ask its audience to leave all their worries behind and focus only their movements. At the end, every sound is transformed into a moment of relaxation and community with the music. The widely-praised fifth entry in their discography De Facto (2019) resembles the work of legendary Scottish trio Cocteau Twins, one of their most vital influences.

After releasing a pair of albums on Polyvinyl in 2015 and 2016, James Alex’s band Beach Slang is back with their new LP The Deadbeat Bang Of Heartbreak City on hardcore label Bridge Nine. The record features blistering, brash, arena-ready rock & roll songs that recall the guitar heroics of Cheap Trick. The Philadelphia-born band has never really had a steady lineup, instead featuring a rotating cast of players from album to album. On their newest, Alex has brought in one of the biggest names from the ’80s alternative scene — bassist Tommy Stinson of The Replacements. The album’s lead single “Bam Rang Rang,” which features Stinson on bass, is filled with heart-pounding rhythms and a wailing guitar lead, with Alex’s coarse vocals shouting out the album’s titular line, “The Deadbeat Bang of Heartbreak City!” Beach Slang are no one-trick pony, with Alex releasing Everything Matters But No One is Listening in 2018 under the moniker Quiet Slang, which found him reworking the band’s punk rock sound into subdued, orchestral arrangements.

This band headlined my Good Karma Club tour around the UK last year and killed it every single night! Their indie pop songs are all huge, catchy, sing-along anthems and they manage to create such a fun party atmosphere whenever they play live. Go and check them out for yourself at their first SXSW, before the release of their eagerly-anticipated debut album later this year.

If Jean-Paul ‘Bluey’ Maunick from Incognito had been born in the middle of The Carnaval Of Brazil in the streets of Rio de Janeiro, I think his music would sound a lot like La Garfield. It’s hard to write about music without drawing these type of comparisons, but sometimes you just have to. La Garfield works great on so many levels. It’s happy music, made to celebrate life while having a piña colada by the beach on a warm sunset in Acapulco. With funky beats, horns and densely-harmonized chords played on a rhodes piano over latin percussion, La Garfield seems like a serious candidate to follow the legacy of latin dance giants Los Amigos Invisibles for many years to come.

Going from four childhood friends with somewhat daft names for one another, to becoming an integral part of the next generation of London’s punk scene, Italia 90 are a band that’ll certainly stick in your mind. Having relocated from their home of Brighton to become part of South London’s infamously creative hub, the quartet – Les Miserable, J Dangerous, Bobby Portrait and Captain ACAB – have quickly developed a reputation for melding together all manner of influences and styles to create their jagged, enticing brand of post-punk. Led by Les’ no-nonsense vocal style, their tracks come socially-charged and packed with a sense of addictive restlessness and power, that really marks them out amongst their punk peers.

Melbourne experimental pop songwriter Becky Freeman records world-building conceptual collections as Sui Zhen. On 2015’s Secretly Susan, she adopted the persona of a social media avatar (“I am a creature without a tangible home”) in songs that mixed toppling electro dub, chillwave-esque pop, Pizzicato 5-vibes, and bossa nova. Her brilliant third album Losing, Linda was inspired in part by AI and in part by her mother dying from pancreatic cancer — she sings like a robot, but one who’s feeling all too human. Despite that conceptual framework, it’s never too heavy — Freeman has an ability to place big concepts in music that feels airy, delicate, and open. And sometimes the material is both comforting and frightening, like on the surprisingly swinging “Mountain Song,” where she asks, “Can you let go and just be comfortable with the fear you have for the unknown?/ What could be out there that’s scarier than your own mind?” It often is scarier, though, and she seems to know that — but you create art amid it, and keep going anyway. As she sings in the shiny, ebullient robo-pop of “Perfect Place”: “Things you can’t put off, do it now, do it now.”

New York’s No Wave scene was easy listening only for sadists, and nobody embodied that like Lydia Lunch. With her solo work, her spoken word records, and her infamous early group, Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, she turned macho rock posturing on its head and thrashed it around for her pleasure. The Jerks in particular were too punk for punk, mincing neither words nor terse guitars. She appeared on Sonic Youth’s “Death Valley ’69,” one of their hardest tracks in no small part due to her presence, and also recorded a series of albums with late Birthday Party guitarist Roland S. Howard, most notably 1991’s noise rock landmark Shotgun Wedding. Despite her resume, Lunch hates resting on laurels: she produced Philly punks Pissed Jeans’ 2017 smash “Why Love Now,” and her current group, Lydia Lunch Retrovirus proves that classic, squally, noisy New York confrontation isn’t dead.

Hong Kong is a city which has been — and is going — through turbulent times. In these moments, it is comforting to turn to the sensitive and contemplative music of Olivier Cong. A singer songwriter, composer and multi-instrumentalist specializing in introspective and atmospheric soft depths, his creations provide supple gusts and delicate howls without a hint of weakness. For his is a gentle tide — calm but laden with persistent intent, each movement gracefully deliberate and highly considered. Leonard Cohen, Damien Rice and Radiohead mark the reference points on his musical map, though he ploughs forward in a direction all his own. On the strength of his 2018 LP A Ghost And His Paintings, Apple Music selected Cong as their first Hong Kong Spotlight Artist. The follow-up release Through The Window I See No Star was a live recording of Cong’s ambitious performance at St. Andrew’s Church. Invitations to compose for the Hong Kong Ballet and Shanghai Opera House, amongst others, are a testament to his talent, pedigree and quiet confidence.

Rucci was born to be a star. Hailing from Inglewood, the rapper has formed himself into a pillar in the Los Angeles underground after years of well-received projects culminating in 2019’s Tako’s Son. He showcases his ferocity on “Function in the Hood,” snarling his way through the frame with clever yet straightforward rhymes. Elsewhere on “Keep Going,” he lowers the energy to give a sentimental tribute to Sean Mackk, fellow rapper and close friend who’s life was cut short in 2017. You can feel his intensity through the speakers, but you can’t truly understand why he’s such a special prospect until you’ve witnessed his thunderous live show. Recently, he’s performed at Rolling Loud and LA’s famed Roxy Theater, and now he’ll return to SXSW to bless Austin with his West Coast energy.

This 24-year-old Japanese singer-songwriter has sparked a lot of interest, and it’s easy to see the reason why. Her influences mix dreampop, instrumental hip-hop, digital hardcore, chiptune, noise rock, and vaporwave, making a fresh and unique sound in which the versatility of her compositions push themselves forward to moments of incomparable tension. Transcending barriers of language and distance, her music has been well received all over the world by a public hungry for acts that bring something different with their sounds. Her honesty most felt in her singing, which delivers descriptive tales of living in solitude and a sense of anxiety even on her happiest songs. Her debut Haru To Shura (2019) was built with anything she had on hand, making a brilliant kaleidoscope that feels like the arrival of a new state of the art.

Pom Pom Squad’s music is simultaneously blunt and serrated. The group subverts tired notions of things like cheerleaders or gender tokenization while making music that hinges not on calculated irony but the unvarnished truth. The Brooklyn quarter’s standout single “Heavy Heavy” approaches minor grievances like missing your train and existential depression with the same bleeding edge, as guitarist and lead singer Mia Berrin broadcasts every bit of anger and frustration in her vocals and sludgy riffs. Ow, their 2019 EP, is an intimate portrait of not only struggles, depression, and mental illness, but the exhaustion that all of those issues bring. But the instrumentation itself—all fuzzy guitar, pounding drums, and murky chords—creates a sense of catharsis, like smashing an item from a person who wronged you.

This Milwaukee artist is at the very top of my to-see list — he just oozes talent, he has an incredible and compelling collection of songs, and I can’t wait to see him do this thing live. He cites his influences as everything from The Drums to Passion Pit to American Pleasure Club, with the result being Kenny’s self-titled “new wave nostalgia”, a wonderful blend of hip hop, alternative rock & bedroom pop, which once you’ve heard you’ll be simply hypnotised by. Push play on “Sore Loser” and then I’ll see you down the front at his show!

Having been a hyped secret in between London’s flourishing new jazz scene for two years, everything suggests Stream Down are ready to be the next ones conquering the international circuit. With just one track out (and an EP scheduled for the next months), this collective has been simmering with a weekly jam session in South London and early support from Gilles Petterson, Kamasi Washington and The Guardian. This 12-member band includes Theon Cross and Eddie Hick from Sons of Kemet, as well as some upcoming talent who will soon also shine individually (shout out to Laura Snapes for recommending the upcoming Nala Sinephro album!). Their music mixes uptempo afro spiritual jazz with a modern, groovy urban twist, making themselves part of a scene while at the same time they make the difference. As they said in a concert review by The Guardian: “I don’t feel UK jazz is a broad enough category for us”.

Great Grandpa have put out some really excellent indie rock over the past few years. Their first album Plastic Cough opens with an anthemic banger in “Teen Challenge” — this track gets stuck in my head all the time. The band’s 2019 album Four of Arrows evolved their sound naturally, to a maybe more mature place — arrangements got a bit more sophisticated, production more complex, and new genre influencers were introduced — but not to worry, the anthemic bangers and emotional heft are still there. “Mono no Aware” has to be one of my top songs of 2019.

What happens when you take a band of tatted-up, long-haired bikers, dirty skaters, trouble-making misfits from the mountains of Salt Lake City, Utah and drop them in a gritty Brooklyn, NYC hole? You get the beautiful chaos of Max Pain & the Groovies, of course. Their in-your-face psych-rock clouds your brain like a dose of LSD and pokes holes in your reality. Thrash around with these party rockers at their show and you’ll have the trip of a lifetime. They’ve got new music cookin’ for later this year, but in the meantime, catch them live and buckle up for one debaucherous ride.

Cardiff’s Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard are making glam rock great again. Their live show is half nihilistic showmanship and half supremely endearing musicianship, with lead singer Tom Rees throwing himself around stage with tongue-in-cheek abandon and a whole lot of youthful charm. While previous single “Late Night City” is about as retro as it gets, tunes like “Double Denim Hop” and “Love Forever” have a hint of their home nation’s psychedelic past to them — a bit Super Furry Animals meets Gorky’s Zygotic Mycni, but the weed’s been laced with uppers — a different decade, but the same tight knitwear and Welsh talent for a cheeky hook. After a good year of constant touring and festival spots, and with support from the likes of BBC Introducing, NME and yours truly at The Line of Best Fit, we know they’ll be Canadian tuxedo-ing their way across the USA to acclaim.